Syria: ISIS threatens to kill 180 Christian captives if ransom is not paid

World’s most extremist terror group ISIS has threatened to kill 180 Christians held in it’s captivity if their demands are not met.

According to details, an Assyrian Human Rights Network- Head Osama Edward, there had been negotiations with the terror group regarding the release of the Christian hostages. ISIS has been demanding a high amount for their ransom, which the Christians could not afford.

Osama Edward further disclosed that the negotiations between ISIS and Christians were led by the Church of the East in Syria. Negotiations “have been suspended due to the unbearable demands of the terror group.” he said. “ISIS threatened to execute the 180 hostages if we didn’t pay the ransom,” Edward told.

In the beginning, ISIS had demanded a high amount of $100,000 per hostage, which amounts to a total of $23 million. However, later the terror group lowered it’s demands because the Christians could not afford such high amounts. Currently, the demand put forward by the terror group is about $12-$14 million.

Since the early months of this year, ISIS has stepped up its drive of kidnapping Christians and demanding ransom from their families. The Assyrian Christians being threatened to be killed by the group are among those 200 who were kidnapped by the ISIS jihadists. These Christians were kidnapped from 35 villages along the River Khabur in northern Syria.

However, most recently, a video was released by the terror group in which three Christians were filmed being executed and the group demanded for ransom and threatened that other Christians will be killed in similar way if ransom is not paid.

A group campaigning for the protection of religious minorities in Syria Demand for Action (ADFA) strongly condemned the execution of three Christians as shown in the latest video and urged the international community to take action against the terror group.

“We condemn this latest act of barbarism in the strongest possible terms. The systematic ethno-religious cleansing of Assyrians/Syriacs/Chaldeans continues. They are helpless. They are children. They are women. They are somebody’s father and brother.

We plea and beg of the international community to intervene immediately. We have been driven out of our ancestral lands. We have been killed and crucified. The international community must act now to save lives of others kidnapped,” a statement from the group said.